Britain’s renewable power hits new peak, fossil fuel also rises

Britain’s renewable power hits new peak, fossil fuel also rises

Renewable power sources generated 40 percent of Britain’s electricity in 2022, up from 35 percent in 2021, while the share of fossil fuel in the energy mix also rose, a report by academics from Imperial College London for Drax Electric Insights showed on Thursday.

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Overall generation from renewables has more than quadrupled over the last decade. Wind, solar, biomass and hydro are the main sources of renewable power.

Fossil fuel still has a larger share, providing 42 percent of Britain’s power in 2022, which was its biggest contribution to the country’s fuel mix since 2016.

Iain Staffell of Imperial College London, and lead author of the report, said 2022 had been “a year like no other for the energy industry”.

Although renewables provide “more cheap, green energy than ever before,” he said, the public is feeling the pain of gas prices, which surged in response to supply disruption linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

Britain, in common with other European countries, extended the life of coal-fired power units to try to ensure adequate supplies during winter peak demand as Britain’s power imports dropped to zero in 2022, compared with 8